Blood Lead Level
Data on the number of tests for elevated blood lead level is collected by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services at the individual level. For this analysis, D3 anonymized the data and aggregated it up to various geographies. Geographies with less than 6 individuals with elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) are suppressed to preserve anonymity. EBLLs are defined as a blood lead level greater than 4.5 micrograms per deciliter (the unit of measure used to determine lead levels which is micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood). There are two different types of samples, capillary and venous. Capillary testing is done by a pricking the skin of a fingertip or heel capillary. Venous testing is done by drawing blood directly from an arm vein. Some children receive both types of testing, but not all children receive venous testing. Venous is preferred for accuracy and used in the SDC tool as the method of identifying EBLL.
The table D3-Blood-Lead houses data on the following columns:
| Columns | Description |
|---|---|
| CntTested | Number of individuals who were tested |
| EBLL | Number of individuals tested with an elevated blood lead level, defined as > 4.5 micrograms per deciliter |
| Under6CntTested | Number of individuals, under 6 years of age, who were tested |
| Under6EBLL | Number of individuals tested, under 6 years of age, with an elevated blood lead level, defined as > 4.5 micrograms per deciliter |
| Under18CntTested | Number of individuals, under 18 years of age, who were tested |
| Under18EBLL | Number of individuals tested, under 18 years of age, with an elevated blood lead level, defined as > 4.5 micrograms per deciliter |